“Shan Chief at the Durbar” by Mortimer Menpes, R. I.

Shan Chief at the Durbar

Mortimer Menpes

1903

Watercolor

Source: The Durbar, facing p. 40

“Although never having visited India before, these chiefs watched the gorgeous retinues of the Indian princes pass by with perfect equanimity.”

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

Other depictions of the Shan people from Burma

The Shan Chiefs’s Retainers at the Native Review

Shan Retainers Carrying a Gong

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the University of California and the Internet Archive and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite it in a print one. — George P. Landow]

Perhaps those who attracted most attention were the Shan chiefs. They were wearing solid gold dresses, belling out like pagoda roofs, and great headgears of blazing gold. The crowd stared at them, and countless cameras snapped under their very noses; yet they never moved. We walked round the arena for about two hours; but whenever we returned there they were, still in the same position. One was standing with his arm on a chair; the other was sitting sedately. As they wore skirts, it was difficult to say whether they were men or women. They had never been to India before, or seen any- thing approaching this grand ceremony; yet they showed not the least emotion, staring stolidly before them like two of their own Burmese idols. [55]

Bibliography

Menpes, Mortimer. The Durbar. Text by Dorothy Menpes. London: Adam & Charles Black, 1903. Internet Archive version of a copy in the University of California at Los Angeles Library. Web. 27 May 2017.

Last modified 28 May 2017